The Red Room
by Artemis Black1592
Summary: Dale CooperOC. Story I wrote in my boredness. Pretty much becomes a humorous romance. Please R & R
1. Chapter 1

Chapter 1 

Rachel sat in the passenger's seat of the car, her head leaning up against the window. She was admiring the beautiful scenery when she heard something that was quite familiar to her:

"January 17, 3 P.M.

Diane, there has been a murder here in Twin Peaks. Gordon says that it is a possible lead to a serial killing. I don't know enough now to make that judgment…but hopefully I will soon. Agent-in-Training Rachel Doucette is helping me with this case.  
What we know at this point comes from Cable's report. A work of fiction worthy of a Pulitzer. Distilled down to the facts, this is what we have. Theresa Banks, no known next of kin, residence unknown, was found lying in a drainage ditch on the outskirts of town. Her naked body was wrapped in clear plastic and secured with duct tape. Appeared to have suffered numerous contusions to and about the head. The local coroner has determined the cause of death to be brain damage caused by a blow to the right temple area that fractured the skull. None of the other blows were severe enough to cause death. She had had sexual relations within the last twelve hours of her life.  
I'm going in to see the body now."

Rachel sighed. Cooper and his tape recorder….he always has that dang tape recorder. Rachel then had a temptation to throw the recorder out of the window, but then decided not to.

"Interesting…"

"What's that?"

"Interesting…the case is quite interesting. And a little strange… Why would someone murder and then dispose of the body in such a strange way?"

"Rachel, I've seen some strange cases in my career…and this would be the strangest…I really don't know why…"

Cooper then pulled the car into the parking lot of the morgue. The two then proceeded to see the body.

Rachel opened the door and walked inside, she hated morgues…but this was something in a days work, she supposed.

The man (who Rachel guessed was the sheriff) greeted them.

"Greetings. You must be Agent Cooper. I'm Sheriff Truman and this is Doc Hayward."

Cooper shook hands with the two men, Rachel followed suite.

"Pleased to meet you." Cooper said. He then motioned to Rachel. "This is Rachel Doucette, she is an agent in training. She will be helping me during my time here."

"It's nice to meet you." Doc said, "Now, let us proceed."

They then followed Doc into a different room. Rachel could see the body. A beautiful girl that had been murdered. Rachel held back a sigh. This is tragic.

Cooper examined the body and motioned to Rachel to hold his recorder. Rachel gave the thing a dirty look before turning it on.

"January 17, 3:10 P.M.

Diane, I am looking at a white female, approximately eighteen years of age, weight 117 pounds. There is an obvious collapse of the right cranial vault above and forward of the ear. Bruises on her neck indicate that strangulation was also present. There are scratches on her knees, and dirt has been ground into the cuts. There is no indication that she was bound in any way during or before her death . . . . This is interesting. Would you please hand me the tweezers?  
Diane, something appears to have been forced under the nail on the ring finger. It is quite deep. I am going to try to remove it . . .. It appears to have penetrated at least three quarters of the way under the nail . . . . Just a little bit deeper. . . . There, got it.  
Diane, what we have is a small square of white paper with the letter T typed on it. Offhand I would say the typeface appears to be of American manufacture, pre-electric. The lab should be able to identify it more specifically.  
There is nothing under any of the other fingers, or the toes. We'll need to run a check of all homicides of females in this general age category, specifically looking for letters placed under the nails of victims, body wrapped in plastic, similar cause of death.  
Diane, as Gordon thought, everything about this has the feel of a serial killing. The question is, is this the beginning of something, or the end?"

Rachel clicked the tape recorder off. A serial killing? She remembered Gordon mentioning it…but from what she knew before seemed like it was just a brutal homicide. It chilled her slightly. Seeing that letter stuck in the girl's fingernail almost made her sick. A letter T, what could it stand for?

"We have a dangerous killer on our hands." Cooper said, "Was there anyone who saw or heard anything at the time of the murder?"

"Yes." Sheriff said, "Theresa Banks, but she's missing…"

"Well." Cooper said, glancing at Rachel "It looks like we have a bit of work to do."

Author's Note: I do not own any of the characters from Twin Peaks. Rachel is my own character, which I have created, do not steal her…


	2. Chapter 2

Chapter 2 

"Well…what do we have here…a serial killer, a letter T, and a trail that's leading to nowhere." Rachel said to Cooper before taking a bite of her pie. "After investigating two places where she worked…we're not getting any leads. Our trail is stone cold."

Cooper smiled "At the moment yes, but we won't know for sure until the lab reports come back. I'm hoping that they'll bring up something, but I do agree, this case will probably go cold and we'll be leaving here in a few days."

Rachel began to play with her food, thinking about the dead girl. She was only a few years younger than Rachel. It was quite hard for her to grasp it. How could someone who is just finding who she is be killed by some psycho killer?

"What do you suppose that letter meant?"

"I really don't know. Maybe a name of something…maybe.."

"Do we have any other cases with people having letters in their nail beds?"

"No…that's what's so weird about this case. We can tell it's a serial killer, but we don't have enough evidence."

"Maybe the lab reports will come back with something.."

"Maybe."

Cooper looking just as confused as she did, smiled and said 'So, how do you like your pie?"

"It's great. The cherry pecan wasn't so good though."

"I thought the same thing."

Rachel smiled and checked her watch.

"We should probably get going Coop, since it's going to be a bit of a drive to the hotel."

Cooper nodded and took the last bite of his pie. After arguing about who was going to pay the bill. The two left and headed back to the hotel.

I was walking in the woods. I saw a train car I heard screams. Oh god… it's dark, cold, and dark. I can sense fear. It's surrounding me like a cloud of smoke. She's screaming…god make her stop screaming. It's so scary here.

_I'm now in the train car. He's scary…so scary. I'm afraid. I'm really afraid. He has something. He-he-he hits her on the head with it. She screams, god, I've never heard a scream like that before. Death…I can sense death. He's laughing now, hysterically. He's saying something…wait I can't hear it…shhh…I can hear it._

_THROUGH THE DARKNESS OF FUTURE PAST  
THE MAGICIAN LONGS TO SEE  
THE ONE WHO CHANTS BETWEEN TWO WORLDS  
FIRE WALK WITH ME_

Rachel awoke in a cold sweat. Cooper stood over her, his face full of concern.

"Rachel, speak to me Hun, are you alright?"

"Yeah." She said trying to catch her breath "A nightmare…that's all."

"You were screaming in your sleep. You want to tell me about it?"

Rachel sat up, her back against the headboard. "I was in the woods…In a train car…there was screaming, death, a man-a killer. He said something…a poem…I can only remember one line…"

"What is it?" Cooper asks, now sitting on the bed besides her.

"F-f-f-f-Fire…Fire Walk With Me."

Rachel collapsed, Cooper held her in his arms. She began to cry tears of fear.

"It was so scary…I've never been so scared in my life."

"Shh…it's alright." Cooper said, trying to comfort her. "I'll stay up until you fall asleep."

Rachel nodded and sunk back down into the covers. She then drifted back to sleep.

Cooper had never seen anyone that scared before. He knew something was terribly wrong…

Author's note: You know the drill…I DO NOT OWN THE CHARACTERS OR THE POEM FIRE WALK WITH ME. That was somewhat bad…but I thought the dream was ok…


	3. Chapter 3

Chapter 3 

Theresa Banks' Body was found in January of 1988. After the test results came back, the case went cold because of such little evidence. Cooper and Rachel returned to San Francisco. Cooper took some time off and visited relatives. He then returned back to San Francisco and continued to work for the FBI. Rachel completed her training and became an FBI agent. She and Cooper hadn't formally seen each other since April of 1988. This all changed on a cool February morning in 1989.

It was a somewhat warm morning in San Francisco. Cooper had gotten up early to finish some paperwork before heading into his office. The phone rang. It was 6 am and Cooper was curious to see who was calling that early.

"Hello?"

"Cooper, it's Rachel. I'm really sorry to bug you this early in the morning, but it's important."

"Rachel, it's nice to hear your voice again. I was up doing some paperwork, it's alright, you weren't bugging me. So what it is?"

"Another murder similar to Theresa Banks'. There was a body found in a little town called Twin Peaks in Washington State. The body was wrapped in plastic, just like Theresa's. I think we have a serial killer on our hands."

Cooper was somewhat shocked by the news.

"Rachel, where can I meet you at? You started this investigation with me, and I insist that you finish it with me."

"Well, that's the old Cooper I know. I'll meet you at your office in a half hour."

"See ya then."

"See ya."

Cooper hung up the phone. He missed working with Rachel; they were a good team during the Banks' murder. He wondered if she had changed any.

February 24, 6 A.M.

Well Diane, I just received a call from Rachel. Apparently, there has been another murder similar to the Banks' murder. I'm meeting her at the office and we're heading to a little town called Twin Peaks. I hope we have enough evidence this time.

Author's Note: Thanks Mandy for letting me know there was a sentence missing :)


	4. Chapter 4

Chapter 4 

Rachel and Cooper then drove to the San Francisco airport and boarded a plane to Seattle. Cooper bought a new tape recorder, thus causing Rachel to become paranoid

February 24

Diane, 9 A M., preparing to board Flight 210, commuter flight, 15 seater, arriving in Spokane at 10:15 A.M. One meal, breakfast. Eggs, sausage, toast, jam, juice and the usual coffee-scented hot water. Rachel is accompanying me on this flight.

Case number is: 11219er, you'll have a copy of the file on your desk by the time you receive this. Victim: seventeen year old white female, dead, bound and wrapped in plastic. Cause of death- unknown. Says here she was the Homecoming Queen. Second victim, discovered alive, was found across the state line, which is why it's our business now. Suspects are in custody. Will assess their value upon arrival."

Rachel has been scanning active files for the region. Note-possible correlation to a murder last year of one, Teresa Banks, in the southwest corner of the state. Had all the trappings of a serial killing, except for one- a second body. Maybe this is it. Teresa Banks died a year ago, almost to the day."

Rachel leaned her head against the window. Note to self, find some way to destroy the tape recorder without Cooper knowing you did it. She glanced at him before speaking

"I never was able to find any related cases. It must be a new batch of serial killings."

"I wasn't able to either. There was something that happened when we were investigating the last case that I can't seem to get off of my mind…"

"What is it?"

"Your dream…or I should say your nightmare."

"What about it?"

"I don't know… I just found it quite strange…we know it wasn't Theresa Banks…"

Rachel cut him off

"It was just a nightmare…that's all."

Cooper remained silent.

Rachel sighed.

"We'll talk about it once we hit ground. I just need to focus on the murder right now."

The two didn't speak much during the rest of the plane ride. Rachel relived every moment that she could from that dream. It came back every once in a while…and it scared her the same each time.

"Diane, 10:30 A.M. kissing noises Back on solid ground. I should say solid asphalt. I'm on my hands and knees in the parking lot of the branch office in Spokane. I'm picking up a Bureau car. Yelling to someone 'No, no, no, I'm all right! Just thankful to be alive.'"Rachel's Voice Coop you idiot! You're scaring people!"

"Looks like I'll be heading out Highway 2, due east. It will be a two hour drive. Rachel and I will split up the driving time which will also include lunch, one pit stop and two cups of coffee, unless I refill my thermos. And, Diane, for the last fifteen miles, I'm supposed to look out for deer on the highway. Man, wouldn't that be something?"

Rachel drove until they reached the Morgue. She shivered slightly. This was probably going to be a repeat of last time…

And that it was…

Rachel examined the girl as Coop recorded more messages to Diane. She was young, maybe even younger than Theresa. A thought occurred to her.

"Coop, did you check under her fingernail?"

And that he did. A letter R stuck 1/3 of the way into her nail bed…just like Theresa's was. What was the killer want to tell them by using the letter's T and R?

"I should probably update you both on what's been going on here. We found this at the crime scene. It's her diary. We think it might help us find the killer." Sherrif Truman said.

"Possibly." Rachel agreed. She then took the diary from him and began to read.

"Diane, This is Rachel. I'm holding the diary of Laura Palmer in my hands. This entry is dated February 23. It reads:

"'Asparagus for dinner again. I hate asparagus. Does this mean I'll never grow up?'"

"And then she's written:

'Nervous about meeting "J" tonight.'"

Cooper: "That's the letter J, Diane. And...that's the last entry. Well, that's something to get started on."  
Harry: "Yeah, that's one out of 26."  
"Yeah, one out of 26."

"Diane, I've just turned back 18 days to day one. What we have taped to the page here is a plastic envelope containing a white residue and what looks to be a key to a safety deposit box. Sheriff, we have to be very carefully remove this key. I'm gonna run this envelop. And my bet is it'll test positive for cocaine."

Harry: "That's impossible."  
"You ever been surprised before?"

Harry: "Mr. Cooper, you didn't know Laura Palmer."  
"Let's get started on a court order to open that safety deposit box and maybe we'll both find out a few things about Laura Palmer."

"Diane, I'm holding in my hands a small box of chocolate bunnies..."

"Diane, 9:30 P.M. Night has fallen hard in Twin Peaks. You're not going to believe this, but I am actually looking at the Milky Way, which I can't recall seeing before in quite this extraordinairy way. The night is painted with stars."

"I've just finished addressing the local citizenry during a town meeting on the need for caution and pulling together in a time like this. Have a list of people I'm going to want some background checks on, including a lady who carries a log. They call her 'The Log Lady.'"

"One suspect remains at large. James Hurley. Young biker, who was secretly seeing Laura behind her boyfriends back. A blowhard named 'Bobby Briggs.' I anticipate that James will be in custody within the hour and probably released shortly thereafter. Serial killers don't kill their girlfriends. They prefer the company of strangers. He's out there somewhere, Diane. But a town like this is like a river, lots of hidden currents and eddies, concealing their own secrets. I haven't even broken the surface yet.

There is something else Diane that I haven't mentioned to you. When Rachel and I investigated the Banks' murder she was awoken in the middle of the night by a terrible dream. She mentions a poem that has a line that says Fire Walk With Me. I'm wondering if that has anything to do with these murders."

Author's note: I'm sorry that it wasn't that great. It was a one shot.


End file.
